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What Should We Ask For?
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 15 May, 2022
When we pray we are often asking for something. There is nothing wrong with this; in fact the Lord encourages us to do this. But we should give careful thought to what we ask for. This principle is illustrated in the story of King Solomon. When the Lord gave him the opportunity to ask for anything he wished, Solomon’s answer reflects a true understanding of what we need from the Lord and the kinds of things we should seek from Him. This Sunday we will explore what we can learn from Solomon’s request. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Spiritual Fatigue
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 1 May, 2022
Whenever something goes wrong in the world, there seems to be an outpouring of compassion. We almost get excited at the chance to leap into action and help. But as time passes the energy wanes. We can become fatigued; not just fatigued physically, but fatigued emotionally. It is impossible to keep up that initial level of care and energy. Above even the emotional there is the spiritual fatigue: we face exhaustion with ourselves and our own spiritual growth, and can push ourselves to the breaking point. We need to be able to truly address the issues, but to do so in a way that is sustainable. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Finding the Risen Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Apr, 2022
Easter is of course about the Lord’s Resurrection after His Crucifixion. But just because the Lord rose and lived again does not mean that we ourselves feel His living presence within ourselves. There is a process of being led to Him; it is a process that involves both the head and the heart, a process that involves grief and joy, faith and doubt. This Easter Sunday we will explore what the Gospel of John has to tell us about finding the Risen Lord in our own lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Confess the Lord
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 10 Apr, 2022
In the Gospel of John, Palm Sunday is described in the context of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. There were those who knew of this miracle and hated the Lord for it; there were those who knew of it but kept quiet from fear; and there were those who knew of it and so joyfully confessed the Lord as their king. It was this last group that welcomed Jesus with palm branches. This Sunday we will explore how we too can bear witness to the Lord and rejoice in His coming. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Picking and Choosing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 20 Mar, 2022
Why don’t you care about people? That’s a harsh accusation, and hopefully it’s not true. But in one sense it could be: with over 7 billion people on this planet, we simply cannot actively care about everyone. Thankfully, the Lord does not ask us to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into every cause that crosses our paths. He gives us ways to care for mankind even us we pick and choose which causes we will invest in. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Washing Our Feet
Worship Service: Sermon only - 6 Mar, 2022
The Gospel of John tells of how after the Last Supper Jesus washed His Disciples’ feet. In this act of humility Jesus showed us the nature of His love: that it extends to all, without exception, and that it lives to serve. This Sunday we will explore how we can better invite this love into our lives, as well as how we can pass it on to others. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
The Journey of Life (and Death)
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 13 Feb, 2022
For all of us, life will end in death. But it won’t really end there: after the body dies the spirit continues to live. This Sunday we will look at the journey of self-discovery that awaits us on the other side, and give some thought to how it might shape how we live in the her and now. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
To See God
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 6 Feb, 2022
In the Old Testament the Lord told Moses that no one can see God and live. This is true: if we were to be exposed to the full Divinity of God it would be like being consumed by the sun. Yet God’s purpose in creation is to grow closer to humanity and to bless them. So while we cannot see God directly, there are ways that we can come to see Him more and more truly, and so develop a deeper and deeper relationship with Him. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Daily Repentance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 23 Jan, 2022
The last couple of sermons have dealt with how we address our own evils. In essence this is repentance: admit you did something wrong, stop doing it, and live a better life. Repentance happens on a grand scale when we have done something egregious or when we are battling a lifelong tendency. But repentance can also be something that we are working on in little ways every single day. That might sound daunting: repent every day?! But when we understand what it means we can embrace it as both a possibility and a blessing. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Admitting You Were Wrong
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 9 Jan, 2022
How do you respond when the Word tells you something that you don’t like? What if a way you see the world doesn’t fit with how the Word describes the world? How do you respond when you find out that something you’ve been doing for years and thought was fine is condemned in the Word? It’s a difficult question to answer. So today we are going to wrestle with how to listen to the Word and deal with the fear, sadness and embarrassment of admitting that you were wrong. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
You Shall Call His Name Jesus
Worship Service: Informal Family - 25 Dec, 2021
What's in a name? When a child is born there are a nearly infinite number of possibilities for what they could be called. Yet as they grow and develop their name reflects more and more of their personality, until you cannot hear the name without thinking of the person. The name summarizes who they are. In the case of the Lord, Joseph was told quite directly that the child's name must be "Jesus;" and he was told this because Jesus, meaning "Jehovah Saves," perfectly summed up the nature or character of the Lord. This Christmas we will look at what this and other names tell us about who He was born to be. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Light and Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 19 Dec, 2021
Jesus’ birth is described as the light shining in the darkness. One of the purposes for which Jesus came was to shine the light of truth into the world. But this truth was not just cold, hard, knowledge. It was truth that could show and lead to real love and goodness. In Him was life, and that life is the light of men. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
In the Beginning
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 5 Dec, 2021
Every year we focus on the Christmas story as told in one of the four Gospel. This year we will focus on the Gospel of John. This presents a certain difficulty: John does not speak of any of the familiar elements of the Christmas story. There are no shepherds or wise men in John, no messages from angels, no journey to Bethlehem or manger in a stable. John looks beyond the historical story to the meaning or purpose of Christmas. In our first Christmas sermon this season we will explore what it means that “In the beginning was the Word,” and what it tells us about the meaning of Christmas. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
False Humility
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 14 Nov, 2021
Jesus teaches that the first will be last, and the last first. He also teaches that he who would be great must become a servant. To be meek and mild therefore seems like the goal we should all aspire to. And this is true! But sometimes our very pursuit of humility can be hijacked by pride and turned into just one more means of gratifying our pride. Humility can be falsified, and true humility may look far more boisterous and assertive than we imagine. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Religion and Politics - 2 - Heavenly Leadership
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 31 Oct, 2021
It’s often taken as a given that politicians will be self-serving, corrupt, incompetent, or all of the above. They seem to rank just below lawyers as the butt of jokes. Yet the position of being a government official is in itself, or at least ought to be, a sacred one. Anytime someone enters into leadership they take on the responsibility to serve, and the higher the position, the greater the responsibility. This Sunday we will look at how leadership works in heaven (and by contrast, in hell) and see what we can learn both about our own governments and our own roles as leaders. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Are You a Pessimist or an Optimist
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 17 Oct, 2021
Are optimists better than pessimists? Are pessimists just realistic while optimists are naive? What about the Lord? Is He optimistic about our potential, or does He bemoan the woeful nature of humanity? We have those two broad categories of people that conflict with each other. And at times they may be useful. But this Sunday we will look a little beyond these two categories to try to find a more spiritual view of society, humanity, and our future. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
The 5 Senses - 2 - Sight and Hearing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 3 Oct, 2021
We are in the middle of a series on the five senses. Each one of these physical ways of experiencing the physical world around us corresponds to the spiritual ways that we engage with spiritual reality. Last week Malcolm talked about how our senses of smell and taste reflect our ability to detect what is good or evil and choose to take in that which is good. This week we turn to sight and hearing, and we will explore what they teach us about learning and obeying what is true. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Strands Through Scripture - 3 - Covenants
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 19 Sep, 2021
We are continuing to follow threads of meaning through the many stories of the Word. This Sunday we will follow the idea of the Covenant, the special agreement between God and mankind. On the surface it appears that this agreement changes drastically from the very contractual, blind-faith based one of the Old Testament to the loving, caring relationship presented in the New Testament. In reality, these covenants are one and the same, seen from different points of view. We’ll look at how we can change how we see our own agreements with the Lord so that we can form a relationship that inspires and transforms our lives. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
So He Gives His Beloved Sleep
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 5 Sep, 2021
The Word is written in such a way that every word and concept has a deeper spiritual meaning. These meanings are threaded through the entirety of the Word, tying together disparate and varied stories into one story with one message. This Sunday we will follow one of these threads by exploring sleep and wakefulness. In this theme we learn about the need to be vigilant and awake spiritually, as well as the need to rest and sleep in the Lord. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Renewed Life
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 22 Aug, 2021
Sometimes we think fondly back on the simplicity of childhood. Our biggest concerns seem small in comparison to what we face as adults. It’s a pity we cannot go back to that simple mind-set of trust and innocence. Or at least, that’s what a cynical world tells us. But the Lord offers hope in the face of pessimism. Even though we may have exchanged childish idealism for adult realism, that does not mean we can never go back. In fact the Lord promises that we can regain our innocence and find abundant hope even in a troubled world. It’s not too late. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Genuine Goodness - 2 - Picking and Choosing
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 8 Aug, 2021
We all want to be good: but how do we decide which good things to do? No matter how much we do, there is always more to be done. When faced with just how many needs there are in the world we can become overwhelmed. We cannot possibly do it all. In order to be good we have to constantly make a judgment call about what good things we will do, and just as importantly, what good things we will not do. We’ll talk about how to make those choices this Sunday. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Responding to Evil
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 25 Jul, 2021
Perhaps the clearest command that the Lord gives us in regards to evil-doers is that we ought to forgive them. This command is one of the hardest commands to follow and it is crucial for our spiritual well-being. Yet if forgiveness is our only response to evil then we miss the bigger picture. So in addition to forgiveness, what else does the Lord teach us about responding to evil? This Sunday we will explore how to broaden our view of that response. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
Overcoming Avoidance
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 27 Jun, 2021
Avoiding is something we all do. We do it with small things, like when we ignore our body’s signals that it’s time for bed or when we procrastinate on the dishes. We do it with bigger things, like when we put off that important but difficult conversation we need to have or when we put future decisions out of mind. And we do it even with the most important things in our spiritual lives, when we know we have an issue but it is to challenging to face. But if we are to grow spiritually we cannot put off or ignore our flaws. We need to address them head on. This Sunday we will look at some of the reasons we avoid spiritual challenges and what we can do to overcome that tendency. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
What is the New Church - Part 3 - Picturing the New Church
Worship Service: Informal Family - 20 Jun, 2021
Every June, as New Church day approaches, we turn our attention to the book of Revelation. Revelation presents fantastic imagery of plagues and warfare, of dragons and angel armies, of a colossal city and a lake of fire. What it does not appear to do is lay out nicely and clearly what the New Church will be. Why did the Lord choose imagery over rational explanation to paint a picture for us of the New Church? This Sunday’s talk for the whole family will dive into what we can learn of the New Church through understanding John’s visions. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA
What is the New Church? Part 1
Worship Service: Childrens Talk & Adult Sermon - 6 Jun, 2021
Every year on 19 June we celebrate “New Church Day.” We treat this day as the birthday of our church. But what is it that we actually are celebrating? What is the New Church? How does the New Church fit into the broader world of religions and faith? How widely does it extend? How does it differ from any other faith? This June we will spend time looking at exactly what the New Church is, and especially how it fits into the world around us. | By Rev. Joel C Glenn , Westville, RSA